The
Keeping of Large Pythons

Large pythons were the
subject of many a news story last year due to the fact that there were
at least two deaths directly attributable to them. Tragically, the deaths
would not have happened had the owners of these snakes kept them safely,
and responsibly, contained. The following article, by David Chiszar, Hobart
M. Smith, Albert Petkus and Joseph Dougherty, was recently published in
the Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological
Society, and represents
the first clear, and accurate, account of the death that occurred July
1993:

A
Fatal Attack on a Teenage Boy by a Captive Burmese Python (Python molurus
bivittatus) in Colorado"The recent Colorado
case of a human death caused by a Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus;
20 July 1993) resulted in considerable sensational media coverage as well
as widely varying estimates of the snake's length and weight. In the interest
of scientific accuracy, we sought and received the cooperation of the
Commerce City Police Department in acquiring detailed information regarding
both the victim and the snake so that correct data could be placed on
record.

"The victim was
a 15-year-old male, 152 cm [5'] tall, weighing 43 kg [95lb]. While in
bed, naked except for briefs, he was bitten on the right instep, with
maxillary and palatine-pterygoid tooth marks clearly visible on the dorsal
surface of the foot and dentary tooth marks clearly visible on the plantar
surface. Numerous tooth impressions were present on the fingers of both
hands, but only on their palmar surfaces, indicating that the hands had
tried to pry open the snake's jaws from around the instep. The fingers
and the foot bled profusely. Autopsy photographs revealed scleral ecchymotic
hemorrhage, and venous congestion in the cerebrum (petechial and ecchymotic
hemorrhage both present), all being signs of agonal breathing consistent
with a diagnosis of suffocation as a cause of death. No attempt was made
during autopsy to distinguish between suffocation and circulatory arrest
(Hardy, 1993) as causes of death; however, in subsequent correspondence
the pathologist hypothesized that circulatory arrest would more likely
be the cause of death of smaller prey, whereas suffocation would be more
likely with larger victims. Although blood was present on the victim's
face, hands arms and legs, there was no blood present on the neck or on
the middle of the torso, suggesting that the snake's coils had been wrapped
around this area. Bruising of the victim's skin, consistent with this
hypothesis, was visible in the photographs. There was no evidence that
the snake had attempted to swallow any part of the victim.

"The snake was
336 cm [11'2"] total length, and weighed 24 kg [53lb]. Incidentally,
almost all estimates of the snake's weight presented by the media were
above 27 kg and ranged as high as 54 kg. The only accurate weight had
been recorded by Officer Steven Paxton soon after the fatality, but few
news writers quoted him, preferring to use the larger, exaggerated numbers.
Circumference at the thickest part of the body was 38cm [15"]. The
snake had not been fed for 10 days prior to taking the measurements reported
here (19 September 1993) and the most recent meal had already been digested
and passed. Thus, the digestive system was probably empty. We did not
probe the snake's cloaca, but the short tail and diminutive pelvic spurs
strongly suggest that it is a female. This animal had been raised since
hatching by a close relative of the victim, and at the time of the attack
the snake was not confined to a cage, but had freedom to move about the
house. The victim was long familiar with the snake.

"...This raises
the question of why the snake killed so large a victim. Although any answer
that we can put forward would be conjectural, it is known that pythons
and certain other constrictors will sometimes attack prey that cannot
be ingested (Branch and Hacke, 1980; Fritts et al., 1990), whether through
misinterpretation of size or through presence on the victim of chemical
or other cues that are associated with normal prey.

"Perhaps the
most significant point to emerge from this Colorado case is the fact that
a 24kg python, modest in size by comparison with full grown specimens
of this and several other species, was able to kill a healthy 43kg adolescent
human. This will come as no surprise to experienced herpetologists, but
it might be startling to people who have grown unjustifiably complacent
with their now mature pythons that have been raised since hatching."

Through years of meeting
people--especially teenage boys and young male adults--who want or have
just bought Burmese and reticulated pythons, I have found that they really
do not understand just how big their snakes will get, and even if they
do, being "cool" tends to override common sense. Many men (and
woefully ill-educated pet store owners and employees) recommend Burmese
as "good starter snakes" instead of Ball pythons (P. regius)
because of their docility and hearty appetite (failing to recognize that
the initial nervousness and reticence to feed are traits common in wild-caught
Ball pythons, not in captive bred ones).

I recently met two
people who have a deep-seated fear of snakes, both due to encounters with
large, loose pythons. The first is a woman whose infant niece was killed
by the parent's python which had been kept in an insecure enclosure. The
second is a young man who, while sleeping at a friend's house, was awakened
by the friend's Burmese python which was in the process of wrapping itself
around the young man. When he had gone to bed, the snake was on top of
the refrigerator, its owner not wanting to "disturb" it by getting
it down and putting it safely away.

What must be remembered
is that, no matter how tame and friendly the snake, it is and always will
be a wild animal, and as such, subject to what appears to the owner to
be unpredictable behavior. No matter how many years one has had a snake,
no matter how familiar the snake is with its owner-family, hunger, fear,
unease and other factors can trigger instinctual behaviors. Good examples
of this were published in the February 1994 issue of Reptiles (Pssst...wanna
see my pet snake?) and in the general press in 1996 (NY
Teen Killed by Pet Burmese). (2008: Apprentice
Zookeeper Killed By Python)

Another misconception
about giant pythons (and giant iguanid and varanid lizards) is that when
they get "too" big, they can just be given to zoos and wild
animal parks. NOT! Zoos and wild animal parks have all the
giant reptiles that they can handle. Zoos should not, even if they could
afford to spare the resources, become a repository of cast-off pets.

The giant pythons are
beautiful, awesome animals. There is something breathtaking about seeing
a snake with a girth the size of a telephone pole, coiled up contentedly
in its basking area. But there are some animals that are not suitable
as common pets for some people due to the amount of space and other resources
that must be committed to that animal for its entire life, one that may
span two or three decades.